President’s economic plans must be good, reporters like them

During his big economic speech in Illinois, President Obama reminded the crowd that he has 1,276 days left in office. All he cares about, he asserted, is making this country “work for working Americans again.” Do you think that by the time his tenure ends, the president will give a speech that doesn’t open with the problems he inherited before he segues to blaming Washington gridlock for tamping down a robust economic recovery?

According to an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, Obama’s 45 percent ap-
proval rating matches that of George W. Bush at this stage in his second term.
Unlike Bush, however, Obama doesn’t have to worry about reporters pester
ing him about what he plans to do to boost the economy and his poll num
bers. Obama said so himself.

“In the run-up to this speech, a lot of reporters say that, well, Mr. President, these are all good ideas, but some you’ve said before; some of them sound great, but you can’t get those through Congress. Republicans won’t agree with you. And Isay, look, the fact is there are Republicans in Congress right now who privately agree with me on a lot of the ideas I’ll be proposing. I know because they’ve said so. But they worry they’ll face swift political retaliation for cooperating with me.”

The Heritage Foundation had a great take-down of the “big” speech here. But the president has an endorsement Bush never could boast — reporters like them, even if they aren’t likely to pass. And forget the jobless recovery.